Interview With The Designer
Today’s article is a special one…our friend Dick De La Cruz who we wrote about yesterday is going to give a look into the industry that many people never get to see or read about. This will be the first of many stories to come from De La Cruz on MYGOLFSPY…so remember to check back from time to time to read some of the best golf stories you have never heard.
His post today covers a piece of golf history many golfers know little about. And the story is being told by the man that actually developed the technology. It’s a technology that many don’t know the history behind…that’s because it’s so mainstream and so widely accepted that you just forget to wonder who actually invented it. Well like we said Mr. DeLaCruz invented it and his article today will be telling the story of how “The 1st CNC Milled Putter Was Made!”
Enjoy.
“How The 1st CNC Putter Was Made!”
by: Dick De La Cruz
“Where Did You Get This Putter?”
Years ago, when I was with Callaway Golf a friend of mine excitedly brought in a putter he just received. He said, “I had to wait for 6 long months to get this beauty and I want you to be the first person to see it”. He handed the putter to me grip end first so I could feel the weight and balance. I had never seen such a beautifully finished putter of this quality and detail before. The lines of the putter head were crisp and the black finish made the putter visually pure. I asked my friend where he got this putter from? His answer…was T. P. Mills the Postman. This was my very first look at a milled putter, I told my friend to please order one of these putters for me. It took about 6 months for mine to arrive. I could not wait to open the box and take my new T.P. Mills Milled putter to the practice green.
I Asked The President of Callaway
I asked Rich Parente who was the President of Callaway at that time..do you think we could make a milled putter to put in our putter line? He said because of all of the hand labor involved, the long delivery and high selling cost it would not be such a good idea, unless we found a way to produce these putters in mass.
So…to solve the production problem we decided to approach the milling by going to Computer Milling (CNC) which was technology used extensively in the aerospace industry at the time. There were a lot of CNC Machine shops in Southern California during this time, so we thought we shouldn’t have any problems finding a source. Boy were we wrong, most of the shops we approached said it cost hundreds of dollars to carve a single putter out of a solid block of steel. And the majority of the CNC shops had all of the Aerospace work they could handle which was very lucrative at that time. So…they were not concerned about machining a putter back then when you could go to the golf shop and buy a cast putter for only $20.00. They just couldn’t see the logic in CNC Milling a putter.
As Luck Would Have It
After a lot of disappointments visiting the large CNC Machine shops we thought maybe we could find a small machine shop to work with locally in our neighborhood. As luck would have it I ran into a small machine shop that just put in a CNC Milling machine and they were figuring out what they were going to use it on, we solved that problem for them real quick. This shop was well equipped and they had some very talented machinists and artisans. At the time we were not aware that we were pioneering a entirely new process. And believe it or not the solutions we had for the problems we encountered then are still the same procedures used today to manufacture milled putters.
The Putting Industry Was Changed Forever!
We were able to produce Milled Putters at a price the average golfer could afford and cut the delivery time to about 2 weeks. One of the major benefits we discovered by CNC Machining…was all of the parts were exactly the same, hand milling was not as accurate and complicated shapes were almost impossible hand milling on a Bridgeport Milling Machine.
The result was the first ever CNC Milled putter…another Callaway First!
- This putter was named the “Bobby Jones Billet Series” milled putter, in honor of Bobby Jones.
- The “Billet” name came from Rich Parente because the putter was milled out of a solid steel billet
- This putter also had a Callaway Steel Core Hickory Shaft installed in it.
- There is a lot of history attached to this putter and it is very collectable—that is…if you can find one!
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